Understanding Security in Zoom

It is important that you keep your Zoom meetings secure to prevent others you do not want in your meeting from joining and to protect against Zoombombing . By default all Zoom meetings will be set-up with a passcode when you schedule the meeting. 

Here are some tips and resources for securing your meeting.

  • Make sure you are using your USU Zoom account at zoom.usu.edu.
  • Schedule your class meetings through the Zoom tool In Canvas.
  • Do not share your Zoom meeting link on social media or other public websites. 
  • Avoid using your Personal Meeting Room / Personal Meeting ID (PMI) to host public events.  Use a scheduled meeting instead.
  • Always have a host in the call (this is most applicable to those who use the "enable join before host" feature).
  • In a large event, have someone with the job of monitoring participants.
  • If it is an event that will be advertised to the public, consider using a Webinar, which has stricter security settings available.

On This Page

Security Settings in Zoom

Familiarize yourself with the Security settings in your Zoom meeting. The Security Icon is located at the bottom of your meeting, or at the top if you are screen sharing when you are in the Zoom Application.

You can use the Security menu to quickly select settings to secure your meeting. You can even use this menu to quickly take back control of a meeting by un-selecting features. In a scenario when someone that should not be in the meeting enters and manipulates the call in any way, use Suspend Participant Activities. Selecting that option will turn off all participants' video, audio, and ability to share their screen. The meeting will also be locked to prevent new participants from joining.

Resources:

The Zoom security menu that pops up when you click on the Zoom security Icon at the bottom of your Zoom meeting window

Manage Screen Sharing

Don’t give up control of your screen.

You do not want random people in your public event taking control of the screen and sharing unwanted content with the group. You can restrict this — before the meeting and during the meeting in the host control bar — so that you’re the only one who can screen-share.

To prevent participants from screen sharing during a call, use the host controls at the bottom of the screen, click the arrow next to Share Screen and then Advanced Sharing Options. You can also turn off screen sharing for non-hosts through the Security menu.

Waiting Room

When enabled, anyone that joins the meeting will first be placed into a waiting room. The host will then be able to either grant or deny their access to the call. This feature can be enabled when scheduling a meeting or from within the call itself. When scheduling, enable the waiting room in the Security section. From within the call, open the Security button and check Enable Waiting Room. Or you can open the Participants sidebar, click the three dots in the lower right hand corner, and select Enable Waiting Room.

Lock the Meeting

Hosts can lock the meeting so no one else can join. To do so, open the Security menu and select Lock Meeting. If you have the meeting locked, and a participant drops out, they will not be able to rejoin the meeting. You could consider enabling the waiting room instead. Students may have bandwidth or computer technical issues that may cause them to drop out of the Zoom class/meeting. The waiting room would allow them to be readmitted by you.

Focus Mode

Focus Mode allows for hosts and co-hosts to see everyone's videos, but participants only see the video of the host, co-hosts, any participants spotlighted by the host, and their own video. They will only see other participants' names, their nonverbal feedback or reactions, and hear them when unmuted.

Focus Mode also affects screen sharing. If a participant shares content, it will only be shown to the host and co-hosts. The host can then choose to share that screen with everyone or just view it themselves (accessed by selecting the arrow next to Share Screen).

To enable Focus Mode, sign into zoom.usu.edu and open the Settings tab. Toggle on the option next to Focus Mode. Once in a call, turn it on or off from the More button along the bottom taskbar.

Zoombombed?

Please contact the IT Service Desk with details regarding any Zoombombing incidents.

If it happens, click on your security icon and deselect share content, and other options as appropriate. You can also remove the offending person from your meeting, mute them, and turn off their video. As a last resort, simply click the Red End Meeting button.

Zoom - Get Started

The following list of pages will guide you through getting started with this tool. The current page is listed in bold.

  1. Log into Your Account
  2. Integration in Canvas
  3. Schedule a Meeting
  4. Meeting Controls
  5. Sharing Content
  6. Recording
  7. Security